Alien Ultimatum
by Soccer-Geek
Summary: It started with Mylo's Uprising. It progressed with the Tokyo Defenders getting an Upgrade. Now, all will end with an Ultimatum. The Tokyo Defenders are getting closer to the Summer Solstice and collecting all four elements. However, they quickly realize that they have barely scratched the surface. As they dig deeper, will what they discover be enough to save two worlds?
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to the third and final installment of the Alien Uprising Trilogy, Alien Ultimatum!**

**The story is rated T for violence, blood, hint of lime, and some character abuse. (Sorry characters)**

**Pairings included are: Kisshu/Ichigo, Pie/Lettuce, Taruto/Pudding, Shinji (OC)/Mint, Ryou/Zakuro, Keiichiro/Rin (OC), Masaya/Homare (OC),**

**Rirī/Zen (OC), and some other, minor OC/OC pairings.**

**But before we get onto the story, first I need to say this:**

**I am currently working on four different writing projects at this moment. Three of these are Tokyo Mew Mew fan-fictions: Girl with a Porpoise, Blindsided and, of course, Alien Ultimatum. My non-fan-fiction writing project is revising my own, original novel. I am hoping to find an agent this summer and work towards getting my novel published.**

**I will also be starting my spring semester in a week. At the end of this semester I'll graduate with my Associates degree and start at a new school in the fall to get my Bachelor's degree.**

**I also work three to four days a week, eight hours or more at a time, in retail. I am part of a volunteer organization with my school. I have a family whom I love and adore and friends I don't get to see nearly enough of.**

**I love to write. I love to create and I love the stories I'm working on. But I don't have as much time as I'd like to work on them.**

**I don't rush in writing chapters. I take my time. I use what little time I have to write, usually in the form of a few paragraphs before I go to sleep or on a break from work. I do a lot of research and plotting and making all the dots connect. I proof-read and edit and rewrite. It takes days, and sometimes months, to complete a chapter. It is rare that I post something that I didn't spend as much time on, usually one of my one-shots.**

**I know I have said a couple of times that it would be around Christmas that the first chapter of Ultimatum would be posted. But I also worked extra hours after my fall semester ended, and because of this I didn't get as much time as I needed to get the first chapters of Ultimatum ready around the time-frame I wanted.**

**I love everyone who reads my stories and I'm glad that so many people love them. But I've been feeling a lot of pressure lately for a lot of different aspects of my life. Some of it is self-inflicted, such as schoolwork, where I set up high standards for myself and fall to pieces when I can't match them. Some of it just comes naturally, like working retail at Christmas, which is extremely stressful because I like to be able to make a lot of people happy and there were many times and situations where I just couldn't. But I've also been given a lot of pressure, predominately in the form of reviews on here, to update my stories.**

**I know these reviews aren't posted in malice. But the fact of the matter is I can't please everyone. Trying to do so is one of my two fatal flaws, the other being setting high standards for myself that sometimes are a little too high. I can't post chapters and stories daily. Heck, most of the time I can't even take a moment or two to write daily. That's why reviews that consist of only requests to update, or wanting to know when I'll update, stress me out and honestly don't really encourage me to keep writing. So, basically all I'm asking for is less questions about when I'm updating, fewer reviews that consist only of requests to update my stories, and to please not leave those sort of reviews on completely different stories.**

**That being said, let the show begin!**

**I do not own any part of Tokyo Mew Mew. I own all OCs that you will see in the story.**

**A huge thank you to Amber-Chan for help with the cover as well as being an amazing friend.**

**I hope you all enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

Chapter One:

"There it is," Ichigo said as she got out of the car. "Mount Fuji."

"You're sure this is where the Wind element is, Mint?" Shinji asked hesitantly as he gave a side-ways glance at his girlfriend.

The petite ballerina nodded.

"I can feel it," She whispered. "It's calling for me."

"Then let's go get it, na no da!" Pudding said, putting a fist in the air.

"Right," Rin said. She studied the mountain. "So, it shouldn't take us more than an hour to get to the top…"

"Forty-five minutes if we do not experience turbulence," Pie said, making his own calculations.

"And then we can teleport right back here and get you guys, no problems to it," Kish said with a grin.

"Uh, yeah, that's not going to work," Zakuro said as the humans stared at the Cyniclons, eyebrows arched.

"Why not?" Rōzu asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"Yeah, this plan will save us all a lot of time," Rirī said. "We fly up there, teleport back down here, teleport back up there, simple."

"No. It's not simple. Because, unlike you all, we inferior humans need to breathe," Ryou said, folding his arms over his chest.

"We're aware of that," Tart said, he and his siblings still confused. "What's your point?"

Ryou sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before continuing.

"The point is, if you teleport us up there, we're all going to suffocate instantly. It's alright for you to fly up, but we need to go up the human way and adjust to the changes in the atmosphere as we go."

"Oh." The six siblings said together. Rōzu, Kish and Tart reluctantly set their feet back down on the ground.

"Yeah, then, I guess we can go the boring human way then," Kish said with a dramatic sigh.

With that, they started up the trail.

"The human way stinks!" Rōzu moaned as they continued to ascend the mountain sometime later.

"Rōzu, I don't think you necessarily get to complain," Ichigo said, sweat-dropping as she glanced behind her.

"Why not?" Rōzu demanded.

"Because we've only been at this for an hour, and after twenty minutes of walking you proclaimed to be too tired and Pie's been carrying you on his back for the past forty minutes," Ichigo said.

"Oh," Rōzu said, loosening her arms around Pie's neck some.

"We haven't even made it a mile," Zakuro muttered, shaking her head.

"This is going to be a very long trip, isn't it?" Masaya said as he glanced over his shoulder to notice that Kish and Tart had also grown bored of walking and were floating up the path.

"Can we go back to Hawaii now?" Jade asked irritably.

Fortunately for everyone, they were soon making a lot of progress. As they continued to ascend, the temperatures dropped, so everyone gradually started putting on more layers of clothing.

"My mother just couldn't understand why I needed my swimsuit and my heavy winter jacket all in one week," Homare said as she wrapped her scarf around her neck at the place where they paused to eat lunch.

"I once dated a dude who wore flip-flops all year round," Jade said as she slipped on her gloves. "I think he'd even do this in those stupid shoes."

"Why did you break up?" Ryou asked out of curiosity.

"Put a Chimera Animal that's a mixture of a skunk and a pig and let it roll in the mud in the middle of July all day and you'll have your answer," Jade said, wrinkling her nose. "The guy's feet were rank."

"Why did I even ask?" Ryou asked himself with a sigh.

"We're getting nowhere fast and each time one of us passes the same spot, we run the chance of causing an avalanche," Rin observed the next time they stopped. After four hours of walking, they were even more tired and even colder, with very little progress made. Even having been walking (and, in Pie's case, carrying a little sister on his back) the older Cyniclons didn't seem to be tired or sore compared to their human companions, who sat in the snow and glad for the chance to sit, even if it did mean sitting in snow.

"How are you still on your feet?" Masaya asked before taking a gulp of water and passing the bottle to Homare.

"We did training missions in terrain like this all the time," Kish explained with a shrug. He then turned to Rin, Pie, Tart and Rirī. "And I think we need to treat this as one."

"Agreed," Rirī said with a nod.

"What exactly does that mean?" Zakuro asked, arching an eyebrow as she stood up, brushing snow off her jeans.

"It means Rin's right," Tart said. "We're too big of a group and already risking a lot. Plus, the enemy can just fly right on up, right past us. We need a new strategy."

"And I believe I have one," Pie said. "It is, essentially, a modified version of our original plan."

"Pudding thought this was our original plan, na no da," Pudding said with a frown.

"He means us Cyniclons flying up the mountain," Kish said.

"We've been over this. It's not going to work," Ryou grumbled.

"It will if we do it in sections," Pie said. He crouched down and made a map in the snow using his fingers. "We are currently here. We have barely covered seven hundred seventy-six meters, with three thousand more to go. Frankly, making that distance in a short amount of time is not humanly possible. Humanely, but not for a Cyniclon.

"What I am proposing is this: at least Rin, Kisshu and I continue up the mountain via flight and find a place that is stable and secure, then we teleport back here and go back to that location through teleportation, this time bringing the rest of the group. By doing this in intervals, not only will we making more progress, but it should also give everyone to adjust to the changes in air pressure."

Pie stuck one of his gloved fingers into the snow that was about at a midpoint on his map.

"According to the information we gleaned, this is the first mountain hut on the trails. It is also at a suitable mid-way point, especially since we only have a few hours until sundown and it would be best if we made sure we were inside before then."

Pie glanced up at the others, who seemed to be considering his plan.

"I think that would work," Keiichiro said after a few moments of thought. "And Pie is right. There's no way we would make it to a hut at the rate we're going now, and the temperatures are just going to keep dropping the later in the day it gets."

"And I don't think any of us really want to be able to give a first-hand account of what it's like to have frostbite," Ichigo added with a nod. She turned to Mint. "Mint, you're the one who's kind of the leader of this trip. Is this okay with you?"

Mint nodded, eyes still somewhat hazy.

"Whatever gets us there the fastest," She muttered.

"Alright, then," Rin said, quickly giving Keiichiro a kiss on the cheek. "We'll be back shortly."

With that, she, Pie and Kish took off.

"And this is why I'm glad I brought a book," Lettuce said, reaching into her backpack.

"That and I think Pudding's Mew Fire Rod would have to freeze over before you went anywhere without a book," Jade said with a grin.

They weren't waiting too long when a very annoyed Pie and Rin returned.

"Where's Kish?" Homare asked.

"We got tired of him, so we told him to guard our way-point," Rin said as she snatched up a backpack.

"That's kind of mean, na no da," Pudding said.

"Not when," Pie said irritably. "The entire trip consisted of him singing almost every single song from _Frozen_, including any parodies he could remember."

"Did he do the '_Will you help me hide a body_?' one?" Masaya said.

"Yes, and that was our cue to pick up speed to get away from him," Rin said. "Which is in part why we've made so much progress."

They teleported to the way point, where there was a mountain hut, just as Kish was starting "_Let It Go_".

"_The snow glows white on the mountain night_," Kish sang, back to them, not even noticing their arrival. "_Not a footprint to be seen. A kingdom of isolation, and it looks like I'm the queen_."

"For the record, I think you'd make a great queen, Kisshu," Masaya said dryly as he followed Pie towards the door with some of the bags.

"Really, you think so?" Kish said, clearly missing Masaya's sarcasm.

"Don't give him any ideas," Ichigo snapped at Masaya angrily.

"Ah, just in time, Ichigo!" Kish said, grabbing Ichigo by the waist. "Pie and Rin refused to duet with me. Now we can do '_Love Is An Open Door'_!"

"Yeah, maybe later," Ichigo said, shoving him away from her.

"Now I see why you said 'almost' every song," Keiichiro said to Pie and Rin, who both nodded.

"I am concerned that from here on out, we will need to go up the mountain traditionally," Pie said over their dinner. "The mountain is getting too steep, and so it would be difficult to teleport a large group without worrying about both air pressure and not falling down the mountain."

"I agree," Rin said with a nod. "The best way is to continue on as we had started this morning."

"Well, that we're in shelter before it got too late helps, plus this means that we can rest and take our time in the morning," Keiichiro said. "We don't want to get up too early while it's still too cold and icy."

"This honestly isn't that much better," Ichigo said, shivering. She was still in her coat and had wrapped herself up in both a blanket and her unzipped sleeping bag.

"Eat more while it's hot, that will help," Ryou said, nodding towards Ichigo's bowl.

"I'm full to be honest, though it was good," Ichigo said, sighing at the remains of her food.

"You didn't eat much when we stopped for lunch," Lettuce pointed out.

"Or at breakfast either," Rirī said. "You need the carbs, your body isn't used to the cold, the pressure changes or the work out."

"I just haven't been as hungry lately," Ichigo said with a shrug. "Usually I could eat an entire four course dinner for five by myself."

"Maybe you're just tired," Homare suggested. "I don't think any of us have gotten much rest in the past few days."

"Right," Ryou said with a nod. "Let's make a plan for the morning and go to bed and rest as much as we can now."

"Can I just ask one thing?" Shinji asked. "Is there going to be any chance of just getting this element and leaving without the whole, you know, _life endangerment_?"

"Life endangerment?" Ryou repeated, arching an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, I don't know, let's review the facts," Shinji said sardonically. "Lettuce gets her Mew Aqua Rod by jumping off a cliff into the ocean. With rocks and sharks and _Topaz_. Pudding got her Mew Fire Rod by jumping into a volcano. A_ volcano_. With lava roughly the same temperature as the sun. And the last time I checked with the good people of Pompeii, human beings are not supposed to survive lava, let alone by jumping into it. It's just looking like every single time we get really close to one of these elements, the only way to get it is by doing something incredibly stupid and life-threatening."

"Oh, come on, that's not entirely true," Ichigo said. Shinji's eyes narrowed as he looked at her.

"And exactly how did you get the Mew Element Rod when it was still called the Mew Aqua Rod, Ichigo?" He demanded.

"Uh…" Ichigo said, sweat-dropping slightly. "I, uh, might have, well, jumped. From the very top of Tokyo Tower."

"Twice, na no da!" Pudding said brightly.

"Technically she was pushed the first time," Zakuro said.

"But it was okay, 'cause the Blue Knight caught me before I could hit the ground!" Ichigo said as if that made everything better. Then she turned to Kish. "I really hated that Chimera by the way."

"Thank you!" He said with a smirk.

Shinji, however, was not impressed. He was more than well aware that he was currently sitting on one of the tallest mountains in the world, and that meant that, if this pattern was going to keep up, Mint was going to be jumping off of it.

"We're going home, Mylo can have this one." He said, grabbing Mint's hand to drag her to her feet, however, she kept herself planted on the ground.

"I am not leaving here without that element," She stated firmly, eyes hard. "It's been calling me for far too long."

With a low growl, Shinji sat back down, but didn't look happy about it.

After that, they quickly arranged a schedule to watch the fire throughout the night and decided on a time to wake-up. With that, they prepared to go to sleep.

"I'm gonna freeze all night at this rate, even beside the fire," Ichigo grumbled as she set up her sleeping bag.

Kish, seeing an opportunity for some resemblance of alone time, smirked to himself and said,

"Well, Koneko-Chan, maybe you should sleep really close to someone else. Conserve body heat and all that good stuff."

"Body heat," Ichigo repeated, not looking at Kish but at Rōzu, who was helping Tart—who was taking the first watch—tend to the fire briefly.

"Yeah, you know, cuddling and that sort of thing," Kish said, starting to get closer to Ichigo.

"Yes, yes that's perfect!" Ichigo said excitedly. Before Kish could get his arm around her waist to pull her to him, though, she jumped up and went over to Rōzu, throwing her arms around the little Cyniclon.

"Squee!" Ichigo said, burying her face in Rōzu's hair, making Rōzu giggle. "You're so warm! And soft too! Rōzu, can you sleep in my sleeping bag tonight? You're so tiny you'd fit right in no problem!"

Rōzu giggled and hugged Ichigo back.

"Sure thing, Ichigo Onee-Chan!"

A disgruntled and cuddle-deprived Kisshu slept with his back to the two girls as they giggled themselves to sleep in Ichigo's sleeping bag.

He didn't get his duet either.

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Scene Divider)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

They woke up the next morning to see Mint tending the fire and cooking breakfast over it. It would have been less surprising if Mint had actually been scheduled to take a guard shift.

"I couldn't sleep." Mint said before anyone could speak to her.

"Was it that dream again?" Rirī asked as she started to roll up her sleeping bag. Mint nodded.

"Don't know why I was thinking it would get better the closer I got," She said before anyone could speak. "I couldn't sleep at all."

"Look, all I really want to know," Ryou said. "Is how in the world _this_ happened."

_This _was the fact that Pudding, still zipped into her sleeping bag, was sleeping on top of Tart inside his sleeping bag, Pudding's head poking out next to his. To top it off, it appeared that the zipper to Pudding's sleeping bag was facing in the exact opposite direction of that of Tart's sleeping bag.

"I honestly don't know," Mint said. "I just looked down to poke the fire and glanced up and they were like that."

"We should probably wake them up and help them get out," Masaya said.

"Probably a good idea," Rirī said, then went over to nudge her brother's head with her toes.

An hour later, they were all fed, had cleaned up the campsite and had donned the heavy winter gear again.

"Let's hit the trails, na no da!" Pudding said exuberantly.

"Not so loud, Pudding," Zakuro said. "We have to be extremely careful here on out."

"She's right," Keiichiro said. "The last thing we need is to cause an avalanche."

"Sorry, na no da," Pudding said really quietly.

They walked on.

"How long do you think it will take us to get to the top?" Rōzu asked about an hour after they started off.

"Probably around noon," Keiichiro said. "That's about three hours from now. We might want to stop, though, so that we can reach the summit at the peak temperature and not while it's still really cold."

"Probably a really good idea," Jade said with a nod. "Even if it's just by a few degrees, it's got to be better than this."

"This map I found at the hut says that we should be coming up on the next trail marker in about—" Masaya paused to mentally calculate, map in hands. "Maybe a quarter mile?"

"And after that, it doesn't look like it'd be too much further," Homare said, looking over at the map.

They were almost at the trail marker.

But they never did make it.

They would have, though, if Ichigo hadn't stopped dead in her tracks, a stunned and dazed look on her face.

"Ichigo?" Kish said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"We need to go this way," Ichigo said, pointing to the side.

"No, we need to stay on the trail," Ryou said. Then he frowned, studying her expression. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he turned to look at Zakuro, who had a similar look.

"We need to go," Zakuro whispered.

Pie, apparently seeing the same thing Ryou was, grabbed Lettuce's shoulders and spun her around to face him. He crouched down some to look her directly in the eye, her eyes blank and pupils wide. She was looking at him, but more rather past him.

"Lettuce," He said calmly. "Tell me what is in that direction?"

"Where we need to go," Lettuce mumbled in response.

"It's like when they were under the trance of the Mew Aqua on Scarlet's Island," Rirī said, waving her hand in front of Pudding's eyes, the girl barely even noticing Rirī's hand or Tart gently brushing his fingers against her cheek, trying desperately to snap out of it.

It was Mint who was shaking now, eyes blank and watering.

"Follow trail," She whispered, now shaking her head back and forth. "Follow path. Which one? Which one?"

"Path?" Shinji repeated, reaching for her hand, but she suddenly moved, clasping her hands to her ears.

"Shut up," She breathed, sounding like she was trying not to cry. "Shut up!"

Before anyone could comfort Mint or try to figure out what was going on, Ichigo started marching away, away from the trail.

"Ichigo, stop!" Kish said, following her. "Come back, we don't know if it's safe over there."

But Ichigo didn't stop, and she was quickly followed by Lettuce, Pudding, Zakuro and a teetering, reluctant and whimpering Mint.

"We better follow them, before they get hurt," Rin said with a frown.

The Mews didn't go too far from the path, but with the sudden increase of the snow and having to navigate through that, it felt longer. Yet somehow the girls plowed on through it, following where Ichigo's feet had been.

"Where are they going?" Rōzu said, nearly getting trapped in a snowbank until Pie snatched her up by her underarms and put her on his back.

"I do not know, but I would like to," Pie said, eyes on Lettuce.

Finally, Ichigo sank to her knees on the mountainside. She waited until Lettuce, Pudding and Zakuro were with her, sitting in a circle. Ichigo then turned her head and looked directly at Shinji, who was now more or less keeping Mint upright at the moment, her hands still over her ears and whimpering.

"Keep her back." She said, voice low and hollow. "She will only hurt herself if she comes any closer at the moment."

Shinji's only response was to wrap his arms around Mint tighter, bringing her head to his chest and stroking her hair as she cried as if in pain.

Ichigo then turned back around. Without a word, she pulled off her gloves and sank her hands into the snow, digging at it with her hands, her fingernails having elongated like claws to aid her. The other three Mews did the same, and it did not escape their notice that, like Ichigo, Zakuro now had an impressive set of claws of her own.

"They're going to get frostbite," Homare said in concern as they could only stand back and watch.

"What could they possibly be looking for?" Rin said, shaking her head. But, just then, they heard a scraping sound, nails against stone.

Zakuro grinned, eyes wild and starting to yellow like a wolf's as she looked at the other Mews.

"Found it." She said.

Ichigo rose to her feet at that, followed by the other girls. Ichigo held out her hand and suddenly the Mew Element Rod appeared. Lettuce and Pudding followed suit, bringing out the Mew Aqua Rod and Mew Fire Rod.

Ichigo then walked across the snow to Zakuro's side. She bent down and put the tip of her Rod into the snow, dragging it across and going in a circle.

"What exactly have you found?" Ryou dared to ask as Ichigo did this. Ichigo had a Cheshire Cat smirk as she looked up once she was done, her pupils now cat-like. She looked rather feral.

"You shall see," She said as she brought the Rod back to rest against her shoulder. She then turned to Lettuce and Pudding with a nod.

Pudding stared at the circle, a smirk crossing her face as well.

"Ribbon Fire Melt," She said, lifting her Rod. In an instant, flame erupted from the tip, melting the snow before her.

Lettuce's lips formed a line, eyes hard as she lifted her Mew Aqua Rod.

"Ribbon Aqua Rise," She said, lips curling as she said those words. The water from the melted snow rose and drifted down the mountain side, as well as did some of the snow Pudding hadn't melted.

They kept at this for several minutes, until the snow was completely gone.

And as they got closer and closer to the end, their companions felt their eyes getting wider and wider at what they saw.

For what the Mews had unearthed, buried deep in the snow for thousands of years, was a cave.

As soon as the entry was clear, the three Rods disappeared and the Mews seemed to snap themselves out of whatever trance they were in.

"Ow," Zakuro said, clutching her forehead, eyes closed. "What happened?"

"We blacked out again, didn't we?" Ichigo said with a groan of realization.

"Did we go Ultimate again, na no da?" Pudding asked, shaking her head some and looking about curiously.

Lettuce's jaw dropped at the cave.

"Where did this come from?" She asked, pointing at it as she looked at her friends.

No one got a chance to answer her.

Because suddenly, they all heard it.

A muffled rumbling, slowly but steadily getting louder and louder, getting closer and closer.

An avalanche.

"The cave, now," Pie ordered.

Everyone started scrambling, not questioning or arguing. Shinji started to move, dragging Mint with him, but she then tried to escape from his arms. One look at her eyes said that she was the only one who hadn't awoken from the trance.

"NO!" She screamed hysterically, tears falling. "I can feel it… I can't…"

"Mint, come on," Shinji said, voice pleading. Kish quickly came to his aid, helping grab Mint and dragging her towards the cave as fast as they could. She thrashed in their arms, sobbing and screaming.

She tried to make one final break for it, managing to elbow Kish just under his ribs, sending him tumbling backwards into the cave.

Shinji didn't think. He just acted. He regretted it later, but also didn't.

He grabbed Mint's arm as hard as he could and dragged her in. He pulled her quickly so that she was now behind him and then he turned and forced her to the ground, closing his eyes and wrapping his arms around her as they hit the cold rock.

They had just made it inside the safety of the cave.

Because the avalanche put a new layer of snow back where just moments before Lettuce and Pudding had melted it away.

They were safe, but they were trapped.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you all for being so supportive of the message at the beginning of the last chapter. I honestly felt a bit nervous posting it even though it was something I really felt needed to be said. You guys are so amazing and understanding. :)**

**That being said, I start school tomorrow and wanted to get one more chapter posted before then.**

**Warning: this chapter does carry a certain level of creepiness. Not exactly scary, but creepy, if that makes sense.**

Chapter Two:

Tart didn't remember hitting his head and blacking out.

But he definitely remembered waking up to see an orange baby monkey sitting on his chest, staring at him in concern.

"Uh, hello," He said to the monkey. The monkey blinked it's big, brown eyes, tilted its little head, then patted his cheeks with its small hands. "Yeah, yeah, I'm awake." Tart said as he sat up, the monkey clinging to his jacket as he did so. "Now where exactly did you come from?"

The monkey just hopped up onto his shoulder and snuggled into the hood of his jacket. Tart then looked around. There was light coming from flashlights and Rōzu's hands and it looked as if everyone seemed to be tending minor injuries.

"How long was I out?" Tart asked.

"About two minutes," Rin replied from where she was kneeling beside an annoyed Pie, pushing back his bangs to examine his forehead. "If you're wondering what happened, you accidentally ran into a stalactite. And of course Pie here just had to follow suit going to check on you."

"I am fine," Pie said irritably, smoothing down his bangs as Rin moved her hand.

"For once," Rirī commented from across the cave, where she sat on her knees beside Mint. "Neither of you have a concussion, nor do there seem to be exterior wounds. Maybe bruising but you'll live."

Tart nodded.

Then suddenly, his eyes widened.

"Where's Pudding?" He said, glancing around. Everyone was accounted for…

Except Pudding.

With a feeling of dread, he looked at the snow-blocked entrance to the cave and before anyone could say anything to him, he was digging at the snow.

"Hey, stop!" Kish ordered, grabbing hold of Tart's shoulder. "You keep doing that, more snow is just going to come down."

"But Pudding, she's gone, we've got to save her!" Tart said frantically, unsure why no one else seemed particularly concerned. Then he felt a sharp tug on his ponytail and turned his head to look at the unamused looking monkey. The fluffy baby monkey jumped onto his head, then swung around so that its arms were around his neck. His eyes widened a bit more as suddenly the monkey pressed its lips to his and suddenly he was looking at Pudding once more.

Tart blinked.

"You were the monkey." He said, suddenly feeling stupid. "Because that's your animal."

"Took you long enough, Taru-Taru," Pudding said, reaching her hand up to whack him on the back of the head. She then grabbed his hand and kissed his cheek, saying, "But thank you for the concern, na no da."

Tart smiled and hugged her, just glad she was safe.

"I'm sorry, Mint," Shinji said again, feeling ashamed and guilty as he sat beside her on the stone floor while Rirī examined Mint's left shoulder.

"It's okay," Mint said, shivering slightly. In order for Rirī to examine the injury properly, she had needed to shed her jacket and sweater, leaving her in the long-sleeved undershirt and the cold quickly seeping in. "You did what you had to, and you did kind of save my life."

"Yeah, but you got hurt because of it," Shinji said.

"How bad is it?" Ichigo asked as she came over to sit beside Mint as well.

"Her shoulder is dislocated," Rirī said, hand on the shoulder in question. "I can get it back in place, but it might hurt a bit after. We'll need to ice it to keep the swelling down, and I'd like to have her arm in a sling. Also, if we have any painkillers that would be great."

Everyone jumped to and Ryou dug out the first aid kit from his backpack, passing off the painkillers to Zakuro who brought them over while Masaya fished out a water-bottle. Mint quickly took the pills and Rirī waited a few minutes for them to kick in before repositioning the shoulder. When Rirī asked if she was ready, Mint nodded and buried her face in Shinji's shoulder as he rubbed her lower back comfortingly. It was quicker than Mint expected, and not as painful as she thought it would be. But she was immediately grateful for the plastic bag full of snow that Homare had put on her shoulder as soon as Rirī moved her hands away that eased the pain away.

"Let's get you back in at least your sweater before we mess with a sling," Rin said, bringing over the makeshift sling that they had made.

While Zakuro, Lettuce and Ichigo helped with this, Jade looked around the cave.

"What do you think is so special about this cave?" She said.

"I don't know," Keiichiro said. "I would think the fact that the Mews led us straight here means there is something about it. And I doubt it was because of the avalanche."

"What we do know is this," Ryou said, packing up the first-aid kit again. "There is another opening to this cave, other than where we entered."

"How, na no da?" Pudding asked.

"Because even though there's a lot of us in here, all of us breathing, the air doesn't feel thick. Rōzu's using her fire. Breathing and fire both require oxygen, and the snow is blocking that from happening. So that means there is another opening that fresh air is getting through." Ryou said. "This is a great thing."

"Because we can breathe?" Lettuce said, brow furrowing.

"Even better," Ryou said. "We can get out another way."

"Why can't we just teleport out?" Mint asked as Rirī carefully adjusted the sling on her arm.

"Because apparently the universe wants us to get these elements, but not easily," Kish said, rapping his knuckles against the walls of the cave. "This is twice now that we have entered a cave filled with rocks that don't allow us to teleport, and only that because obviously, Rōzu can still use her fire."

"Well, that sucks," Ichigo said, folding her arms over her chest with a frown. Her frown deepened. "This feels really weird, a volcano in Hawaii and Mount Fuji in Japan… both having tunnels going through them, and Cyniclons not being able to access their powers. You know, I wonder…"

"You wonder what?" Masaya prompted as Ichigo trailed off, looking around at the cave in thought.

"Well, in science class we talked about Pangea, which is basically where thousands of years ago, all of these continents and islands that Earth is made of were all squished together. You can still see how they used to fit together, like puzzle pieces." Ichigo said. "And, well, that would mean that Japan and Hawaii were more or less on the opposite sides of the world from each other. And if they're alike in this way, the stones, the elements and all that, does that mean that at the North and South Poles we would find something similar?"

"Possibly," Keiichiro said. "And if so, I personally would love to figure out why it's that way."

"But for now, maybe we should just focus on getting out of here," Zakuro said, helping Shinji get Mint to her feet. She turned to Rirī. "Is Mint going to be alright walking around?"

Rirī nodded.

"She might get tired, but we can stop and rest if we need to," Rirī said. "The only thing I'm concerned about is when and if she transforms. I don't know what her wings are going to do to her shoulder."

"I'd rather focus on getting out of here than the thought of needing to transform," Mint said, noticing that Shinji was very quiet as he adjusted the scarf around her neck.

"Agreed," Ichigo said, who noticed the same thing Mint had. "Besides, we need to keep moving anyways before we freeze."

So they started to walk.

"Do you think we're the first ones to come into this cave, na no da?" Pudding asked after a while.

"Don't know," Ryou said. "Maybe."

"Maybe not," Pie said, his gaze on the floor.

"Why do you say that?" Zakuro asked, turning her head to look at Pie.

Pie stopped and so did everyone else. Pie took the flashlight from Kish and pointed it down at the ground. He then put his foot forward, than lifted his foot and brought it back beside his other one. What the beam of the flashlight shined on was a boot-print. Pie's boot-print.

"Dirt?" Ichigo said, brow furrowing.

Pie knelt down, taking off his glove and running his finger through the grime.

"Dust," He said, examining his fingertip. "This was not near the entrance of the cave."

"But it's here," Tart said. "So, why?"

"Because there is something here, closer to where we are now, to accumulate dust," Pie said.

"Like… what?" Jade asked in a whisper.

They weren't quite sure they wanted to know. But they had nowhere else to go. So they continued on.

And they soon found what it was.

Lettuce, Ichigo, Mint, Rin, Rōzu and Homare had to cover their mouths to keep from screaming. Those who didn't do the same were too horrified to even involuntarily scream.

For they had entered a place where the walls were further apart. Long crevices were carved into the walls.

And each crevice held a skeleton, dressed in pieces of crumbling cloth.

"This cave… is a tomb…" Ichigo said, now shaking, grasping onto Kish's arm tightly.

Rirī's brow furrowed and she grabbed a flashlight from Keiichiro, approaching the nearest crevice with caution.

"Eeek, Rirī, don't touch it!" Rin said frantically.

"I'm not," Rirī said softly. "I would never disturb the final resting place of anyone. Especially…."

She swallowed hard before speaking.

"Especially not the final resting place of another Cyniclon."

The room was quiet, the air suddenly much more frigid than before.

"Wh-What?" Rōzu whispered.

"This skeleton belongs to a Cyniclon," Rirī said as she rose. She tucked the flashlight underneath her arms, put her hands together, closed her eyes and bowed as she muttered some words in the Cyniclon language. She opened her eyes again and took the flashlight in her hand again.

"They're all Cyniclon," She said, moving the beam around the room. "Or, at least, I think partially Cyniclon."

"How long do you think they've been buried here?" Ryou asked.

"It is hard to tell," Pie said, approaching another skeleton with reverence. He did the same as Rirī had with the previous one, repeating her words in a low voice. He then righted himself and got a bit closer. "Perhaps thousands of years. They are well preserved."

"How did Cyniclons end up in Japan, and buried in a cave in Mount Fuji?" Masaya said.

"I do not know," Pie said, shining the flashlight on to the spaces between the crevices. He frowned. "There are inscriptions."

"It looks like a mixture of our language and Japanese Kanji," Rin said, cautiously approaching.

"Can you read it?" Jade asked.

"Hmm, maybe barely," Rin admitted. She focused really hard and read, "Coriander Tano…"

Her brow furrowed and she drew back some.

"An Ikisatashi." She said.

"What?" Ryou said, coming forward.

"It's there. Carved in stone." Rin said, touching the inscription. "Our last name."

"That's… how did you last name end up here of all places?" Lettuce said, looking around.

"Maybe they're your ancestors," Jade suggested.

"I am not sure," Pie said, looking at a different inscription. The skeleton there was small, even smaller than Rōzu. A child, they painfully realized. "Juniper Yukanna, daughter of Licorice, an Ikisatashi, and Takumi Yukanna." He straightened and frowned, studying the girl's skeleton for a moment, but didn't say anything.

"Could it be a clan name?" Ichigo suggested. "Like with the samurai?"

"I'm not sure," Rin said. "Just like I'm not entirely sure why there are Cyniclons buried here."

"They can't be from before the Cyniclons left Earth, could they?" Masaya asked.

"I don't think so," Rin said. She raised the flashlight to look down the hall, which seemed to separate out into a different room. Or, perhaps, a different tomb? "Let's keep walking."

Extremely quietly, they continued on. But as soon as they entered the next passageway, they saw even more skeletons.

And, this time, some of them were human.

"You can tell by the thickness of the bones," Rirī said softly upon this observation. "You don't even have to touch them to see that."

Pie immediately went over to the inscription.

"Yoko Ado," He read out-loud. "Wife of Saffron Ado, an Ikisatashi."

Frowning, he went over to the next human, a male.

"Masao Akiyama, husband of Lovage, an Ikisatashi." He read.

Then he took a step back. He looked all around the tomb, at the mixture of human and Cyniclon remains. His eyes lingered on the smaller skeletons, then he said,

"I believe," He said. "All of the inscriptions will have at the very least one 'an Ikisatashi' in them."

"Why do you say that?" Keiichiro asked.

"The girl in the other room, Juniper, she made me suspicious. But now I am sure," Pie explained, eyes excited whereas the rest of his face wasn't. "Her bones were thick for a human, but too thin to be Cyniclon. There are three theories: one that she is a human who was born with thicker bones. The second is that she is Cyniclon, born prematurely so that her bones could not finish their development in the final weeks of gestation."

"And the third?" Ichigo asked as Pie paused to take a breath.

"We have seen," He said. "The results of Cyniclons who came back to Earth and mated only with each other."

"Scarlet and her coven," Rōzu said with a nod.

"Which means that this tomb," He said, gesturing with his arms to the long halls. "Is the results of the opposite."

"The opposite?" Mint said, brow furrowing. "What exactly is 'the opposite'?"

Pie allowed himself a grin as he said,

"The results of Cyniclons mating with humans."

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"Whoa," Ichigo said after a moment of them all just standing there, stunned. She smiled nervously. "You know, it's kind of comforting in a way. That this isn't completely new, then. Humans and Cyniclons falling in love."

"It definitely answers the question of if the combination is able to reproduce," Rin said, glancing around.

"Yeah, well, especially if they are Ikisatashis apparently," Shinji said. "They all seem to have the name somewhere in the inscription."

"But if it's a clan name, why don't they all have it?" Homare asked. "I wouldn't think the women would carry the name into marriage."

"And how did they all get here?" Mint said.

"That, I do not know," Pie said. He shined the flashlight towards the entrance they were facing. "But I am hoping that if we continue on, we will find out."

"I'm more interested in finding a way out, so hopefully they'll both be together," Ryou said.

"Fair enough," Pie conceded with a shrug.

"You know, I'm starting to wonder," Ryou said as they walked. "Vernal's elves… they were descendants of Cyniclons and humans marrying and having kids together as well. And now these Cyniclon and half-Cyniclon skeletons… Just how many times did Deep Blue send Cyniclons to Earth? And what looks to be different places?"

"Not to mention," Lettuce said with a frown. "How is it that Cyniclons speak and write flawless Japanese? And why? Is it coincidence that some ended here, both in the distant past and in the more recent past?"

"That is something I've always wondered," Zakuro said. "How are you guys speaking our language?"

"Hey, imagine our surprise when we came here to learn that you were the ones speaking our language," Kish said with a smirk.

"It's a valid point, though," Rin said. "I know that on Cynnth, 'Japanese' was a more developed form of our Ancient Language. Kind of like how Latin and Greek developed into English."

"So, then, how did two races, seemingly vastly different, come up with the same language?" Keiichiro said.

"It just doesn't make sense," Rōzu said, shaking her head some.

Mint stopped walking, causing the others to stop.

"Are you alright, Mint?" Rirī asked instantly.

"No, I'm not," Mint said, shaking her head. "Because when was the last time any of this made sense? It feels like as soon as we figure out one thing, another loop gets thrown in. The Mew Project is finished and launched, but there's an earthquake and Ryou and Keiichiro's original plans are ruined. We finally figure out who the Blue Knight is, and turns out he's Deep Blue who wants to kill everyone. We discover Mew Aqua and try to get as much of it as we can and when we think we've got it all and used it all to restore Cynnth, suddenly there's three more elements and, oh yeah, more Mew Aqua. We figure out what was making Pudding, Kish and Pie so sick and then we end up in Mylo's trap. Right now, we're dealing with too many different things: this Riddle, the Knights, the elements, and now this. We have a lot of things that don't make sense. And do we really want them to?"

With that, she turned on her heel and started walking again. None of her friends could necessarily disagree with her.

At the end of the hall was a large, round room. This part was different than before. There were niches, each filled with a different skeleton. There was one niche that held two skeletons that seemed as if they were buried clasping hands. It was a husband and wife, they saw, both of whom bore this title 'Ikisatashi' and were Cyniclon. Excluding the inscriptions, there was strange Kanji lining the walls towards the top of the cave.

And, in the middle of the room, almost reverently, was a smooth stone slab on which two skeletons rest.

One was Cyniclon and female.

The other was human and male.

"What does it say?" Homare asked as Pie shined a light on the inscription, carved into the stone at the skeletons feet.

"I cannot make out the names," Pie said grimly. "Those look as if someone later went and crossed them out."

"Why would anyone do that?" Jade said angrily. "That's defacing the grave, showing disrespect to the dead."

"Yeah, who thinks they can do that?" Ichigo said with a scowl.

"The rest of the inscription," Pie said after a moment of studying the kanji again. "Is still readable.

"Here lies and his wife, the last of the Ikisatashi. Rest well, steadfast warrior, and may you always walk with true love at your side."

"The last of the Ikisatashi?" Kish repeated. "What does that mean?"

"It can't really mean that, right?" Rōzu asked, looking around at her friends, her older siblings in particular. "I mean, we're here, and we're Ikisatashis too, aren't we?"

"Right now," Rirī said softly. "I'm not sure what we are."

Pie turned his light up to the walls, studying the kanji. Suddenly, his eyes widened.

"What's wrong?" Zakuro asked instantly.

Pie pointed at the kanji that his light was on.

"That is it," He said.

He then fell to his knees and used the dust on the floor as his paper and his fingertip as his pen, carefully writing out the kanji of his own surname.

"What exactly is 'it'?" Ryou asked as they gathered around to look at what Pie was writing out.

"Most surnames on Cynnth are easily translatable," He explained as he did so. "Most have a meaning in our own language. But ours, 'Ikisatashi'… no one has been able to properly translate our surname."

"Why not, na no da?" Pudding asked as she moved closer towards Pie.

"Only one part of the kanji is an actual word," Rin said. She pointed at the second kanji. "_Satashi_. It's an older form of the word we use more commonly when we speak in Cyniclon, and we think it lead to the development of the word _Senshi_."

"Warrior," Lettuce repeated in a breath.

"It's actually pretty common part of a surname," Tart said. "Given the fact that we are a military society."

"But no one has been able to translate the first kanji, _Iki_," Rirī explained. "It's not a part of any other word or any part of either Japanese or Cyniclon. Papa says our ancestors have been trying for generations, but to no luck. Pie has always said that he'd be the one to figure it out, though."

"And I have," Pie said. "Because I finally found a cross-reference and in a different context."

"You did?" Zakuro said. Pie raised the flashlight beam to a particular kanji. The one carved in stone matched perfectly to the one that Pie had drawn out.

"The kanji up towards the ceiling reads as this: the path of a warrior is not easy. For one to succeed, they must be honorable and brave even in the face of death."

Pie moved the flashlight to a kanji, which matched the second one he had drawn.

"They use this kanji for 'warrior'," Pie said. He then moved the beam back. "And this… this is 'one'."

"How do you know, na no da?" Pudding asked.

"Because, and this is entirely theory, I believe that this word, _Iki_, is an earlier form of the word _Ichi_, and has the same meaning." Pie said. "The number one."

"_Iki_, _Ichi_, _Iki_, _Ichi_," Rin said, a musing look on her face. She nodded her head. "I think you might be right. It's not exactly the same, but it could definitely be related."

"Lots of words in Japanese sound alike," Ryou said with a frown. "Not trying to debunk your theory, but just throwing that out there."

"Maybe that's why," Ichigo said. "Same word, different kanji. Maybe some of our words that sound alike out-loud but look different on paper come from when the Japanese we speak was developed, or still mixed in with the Cyniclon language."

"So, wait, what exactly does this mean?" Tart said, staring down at the two kanji on the floor. "I mean, one-warrior… That almost sounds like a statement."

"Or a title," Jade suggested. "Like 'lord' or 'general'. But you're right. It doesn't sound like it's just a name. These people are very proud of this, proud enough to have it carved in stone near where they are buried. And it seems important that this lady here was the last of them."

"Um, mina?" Lettuce said nervously. "I think this is great and everything and very worthy of discussing, but we have a pretty big problem."

"What's that?" Ichigo asked.

"The fact," Mint said with a frown, seeing exactly what Lettuce was seeing. "Is that there isn't another entrance to this room. There were no other tunnels or passageways either.

"In other words, we're officially stuck in this cave."

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, yeah, another cliffhanger. I know. You should all know by now to not be surprised when I do that.<strong>

**Anyways, about the Ikisatashi thing. I can find no translation as to what the name could mean in Japanese, or what the individual kanji is. (I did also change the amount of kanji that is in the name, as what you can find on the TMM wiki is composed of more kanji than what I used.) So I basically jumped on not being able to find anything and turned it into a plot point. But I don't claim to be an expert about Japanese language or history. I am taking what little information I have gleaned from research and using what I can to the story's advantage.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

"Yeah, being stuck in this cave is a pretty big problem," Masaya said as they looked around the room, almost desperately looking for something to prove Mint and Lettuce wrong. "But air is still getting in, dust has gathered on the bones and the floor."

"So there's got to be some way that air is getting in," Ryou said. He went over to the nearest wall and started feeling it with his hands. "Maybe we're missing it, over-looked it with the way the flashlight hit it. If we don't find anything in here, we'll go back the way we came."

"Right," Kish said in agreement. He floated up and said, "We'll look up high. Maybe there's something up here."

"Great, you guys look high and we'll look low," Ichigo said, starting to feel along the walls, carefully avoiding all the niches.

"Pudding will check the floor, na no da," Pudding said, using the flashlight beam to aid her search.

"I'll help Pudding," Homare said.

"Um, guys?" Mint said, arching an eyebrow.

"You just stay put, Mint," Rirī said from up above. "You actually probably need to rest anyway. Just let us look around and stay put."

Mint huffed but didn't say anything else.

"Well," Tart said after a few minutes of searching, sounding irritable. "I think I found it."

"You did? That's great!" Lettuce said.

"Unless one of you Mews can turn into a snake or a rat, it's not great," Tart said. "I found this hole and I can feel wind coming in, and can see a bit of light. But I can't even get my arm in."

"Great," Shinji said with a frown. "Just great. We're never going to get out of this stupid cave now."

"Are we gonna die in here?" Rōzu asked with a sniffle as she floated back down.

"No, no," Ichigo said reassuringly. "Maybe… Maybe we can melt the snow after all. I mean, according to you guys that's basically what we did to find this cave in the first place."

"Guys," Mint said, now very annoyed. "I think you've already overlooked our way out."

"Wait, you see it?" Rin said surprised as she floated back down as well.

"Yeah," Mint said. With her good arm, she pointed at the air underneath Rin's feet. "I'm not an expert on Cyniclon powers, but I'm fairly sure that if you can do that, you should be able to teleport us out of this hole."

There was a painfully awkward moment when they all just stood there for a moment. Suddenly, simultaneously, hands smacked foreheads with various curses, groans and grumblings. Needless to say, none of them felt very smart in that instance.

"Let's get out of here," Kish said, irritated.

"Let's go back to inside the hut," Rin said. "That is probably the safest place."

"Good idea," Keiichiro said with a nod of agreement.

"You know what?" Tart said once they touched the floor of the hut that they had slept in only the night before. "We should fly all the way to the top, then teleport back here, then there. If nothing else, we'll scope out the area and if we need to go back further down we can."

"Great idea," Ichigo said in agreement as she slumped to the ground. "We'll have lunch ready when you get back."

"Food. Great, I'm starving," Jade said.

While the older five Cyniclons disappeared up the mountainside, the humans and Rōzu worked on fixing food as well as tending to Mint's shoulder.

It didn't take long for Pie, Rin, Rirī, Kish and Tart to return.

"We've got trouble," Rirī announced.

"Don't tell me, Mylo and company?" Homare said with a frown as she looked up.

"Of course," Rin said. "The trail is clear of snow, but we're going to do this teleportation in three steps in order to get you used to the air. Come on, we've got to go now."

Quickly dropping everything, the humans rushed over. The five Mew Mews paused only for a second.

"MEW MEW ZAKURO!"

"MEW MEW LETTUCE!"

"MEW MEW PUDDING!"

"MEW MEW MINT!"

"MEW MEW STRAWBERRY!"

"METAMORPHO-SIS!"

Mint hissed momentarily after transforming. Her shoulder hadn't liked that, and apparently you couldn't transform with a sling on. She knew it'd have to come off anyway. She couldn't use her bow without both her hands. Her wings though… she wondered how that was going to go.

"Mint, are you going to be alright?" Ichigo asked as they waited about a minute at the first way point, getting used to the different air pressure. "You don't have to fight."

"I do, Ichigo," Mint said, eyes hard. "Mylo is after an element. _My_ element. I'm not just going to stand back and watch that happen."

"When I told you, consciously or not, to get your element, I didn't mean at the risk of your own personal safety." Ichigo said with a frown.

"Oh, but Ichigo," Mint said with a smirk. "We've already established this: you can't get an element without putting your own neck on the line. It just simply isn't done. It'd be a serious _faux paus_ to do otherwise."

Ichigo couldn't help but smile at Mint before she grabbed hold of Kish's wrist as Mint grabbed on to Rirī's.

At the second way point, Mint met Shinji's gaze.

"You know I don't want you to do this," He said softly to her, eyes hard.

"But you're not going to stop me, are you?" Mint said.

"I can't do that," Shinji said, shaking his head. "Because I know you won't listen, and because I know this is what you need to do."

He took a step forward, cupped her cheeks, staring directly into her eyes.

"All I ask," He whispered, the fog of their breath mixing in front of them. "Is that you be safe."

Then he pressed his lips to her, kissing her deeply, lovingly, passionately.

It felt like a timeless moment. Like it could have gone on forever.

But it didn't.

Within seconds, they were at the top of the mountain.

And the fight was on.

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Mint didn't realize just how painful putting her neck on the line would be.

Her left shoulder—and, by association, her left wing—was slowing her down. Strategies and attacks that worked perfectly before were making her more of a hindrance than help. She was too slow, proven when she was struck by a stray un-mutated parasite, hitting the ground and rolling.

She painfully tried to push herself up out of the snow. She gritted her teeth, fingers wanting to curl as she tried to put more weight onto her right hand, get to her scrapped knees faster. Her hair was coming loose with the tumble, falling out of the buns messily. Her skin was starting to tinge blue all around in response to the cold. The air itself was making it hard for her to breathe. She sucked in a breath as she saw a dark color on the ground mixed into the snow. She momentarily wondered if she would have been relieved if it was red instead of blue.

But there it was. Scattered all around her were long, dark blue feathers.

_Her_ feathers.

She looked over her shoulder and said a very un-lady-like word.

Her left wing was completely bent out of shape, and she could feel this fact threaten to dislocate her shoulder once more. But both her wings and tail seemed to be stripped of the feathers. It was almost as if she had molted with the blast. Not to mention her arms and shoulders were covered in scrapes and bruises. She hadn't known snow could hurt that much.

She bit her lip, closing her eyes to hold back her tears. She was in pain, yes, but that wasn't why she was crying.

She couldn't do this.

She couldn't fight.

As much as she wanted to, it wasn't going to happen this time.

"Fly."

Mint's eyes snapped open and she got to her feet.

It was impossible.

The sudden change in air pressure was playing tricks on her.

The low air pressure and pain together was making her hallucinate.

Because she knew there was no way there could be a small little blue bird sitting in the snow in front of her.

"Fly." The little bird told her again.

"I can't," Mint said, shaking her head. The tears were blinding her now. "I've told you. I can't. I thought I could, and I was wrong. I can't do this."

"FLY!" The bird ordered in a screech.

"I CAN'T!" Mint screeched back, feeling hysterical and knowing that she looked and sounded foolish right now, yelling at a bird that may or may not have actually been there. "I JUST CAN'T! I CAN'T FLY!"

She hung her head.

"I'm not brave enough for this.

The bird was quiet, tilting its head and then,

"The only one," The bird said. "The only thing that is holding you back, is you, Aizawa Mint."

Mint froze, feeling her entire body tightening.

She was Mew Mint, who was cool and fearless in the face of a Chimera Animal. She could protect the city of Tokyo, hundreds of thousands of strangers, without a blink on an eye.

But she was also Mint Aizawa, who was useless in helping her friends when blood was involved. She couldn't help the people she cared about the most when they were hurt.

She was Mew Mint, who could put on an act. Who could play the part. Who was proud, cocky. Who loved to be center of attention.

But she was also Mint Aizawa. Who pretended not to care when the deepest cuts were made. Who could play the part of the perfect daughter and spoiled teenager at the flip of a coin. Who acted superior so that she wouldn't have to put her trust in anyone.

Who didn't realize just how lonely she was.

She didn't realize just how lonely she was until Ichigo entered her life, then Ryou and Keiichiro. Lettuce. Pudding. Zakuro. Masaya. Kisshu, Pie, Taruto. Jade. Homare. Rindou, Rirī, Rōzu.

And Shinji.

She knew there was an emptiness within her, a feeling she couldn't explain or even truly recognize. Not until he filled it. He was the missing piece in her life. How he taught her to trust people again. To not play some predestined role created by someone else. To be the _prima ballerina_ of her own life.

But still she held back.

Because the last person, the only person she no longer trusted…

Was herself.

Mint put her right hand on her left shoulder. She gently felt it as she looked up the sky.

"It's up there, isn't it?" She said in a whisper, not even waiting for a response.

She knew what the answer was.

She glanced down at her shoulder. She didn't know how it was supposed to feel, how it was supposed to look. Probably not swollen and black and blue from her tumble.

But she had no choice.

She made eye contact with the bird again. She didn't say a word, just nodded. The bird bowed its head and spread its wings. Mint felt her own do the same. She watched as the tiny blue bird left the ground, flying higher and higher.

_Fly. Fly. Fly._

Over and over and over in her head, like a drumbeat, like her heartbeat, getting faster and faster to get to her prize.

She didn't even know what it looked like, the element. She just kept following the bird, now spiraling in the air. She didn't think about the pain, she didn't even think about how much she was struggling to breathe, to stay conscious. The only thing she could think was:

_Fly. Fly. Fly._

Then, she saw it.

Little blue and silver swirls in the air, dancing lightly and freely, like a ribbon in the wind. Like tiny, wispy ballerinas, leaping and twirling and spinning.

Mew Air.

She reached for it, jutting out her good arm but she couldn't reach. She struggled, wings flapping as hard as they could, still reaching. She was dizzy, she was going numb.

She couldn't stop it.

She couldn't stop the darkness from coming, eyes closing, her head lolling back, body limp, her wings stop beating.

She was falling from the air.

She didn't hear Shinji yelling her name.

She didn't see the fight stop beneath her, eyes all suddenly wide and terrified at seeing the limp form fall from the air.

She didn't hit the ground.

Shinji ran, some desperate hope that he would be able to get to her before she fell out of the sky. He didn't think, just knew where to go.

And, to his utter surprise and relief, he got to where he thought she would land first.

But she didn't come down.

All that he could see upon looking up was a large white cloud.

He didn't even need to be told that Mint was somewhere inside that cloud.

He just knew.

Suddenly, that cloud began to glow blue, the mist dissolving away to reveal Ultimate Mew Mint, in her toe shoes and feather-like gown, her large, beautiful blue wings spread out like an angel behind her.

And in her hand was a blue rod.

The Mew Whirlwind Rod.

Mint opened her eyes with a dazzling smile on her lips as she said,

"I am Mew Mint, bearer of the Mew Whirlwind Rod, controller of Mew Air. I have found my element as my sister and leader, Mew Ichigo, instructed me to do. And now, I call her to my side as I use my element for the first time."

Ichigo, with her Mew Element Rod in hand, a blue section now joined with the the green and orange, rose to the air beside Mint. She studied Mint, noting that the girl carried herself with pride, but she also had this air of happiness that Ichigo had only rarely seen in her friend and was more than happy to see in that moment.

"Ready?" Mint asked, almost challengingly.

"Always," Ichigo said with a grin.

Together, they put the tips of the rods together, and with them still touching turned so that they were standing back to back. Raising the Mew Element Rod and Mew Whirlwind Rod over their heads, the girls cried out together:

"RIBBON WHIRLWIND TORNADO!"

The ribbons of air swirled around the girls, enveloping them in a tornado, blowing snow and clouds and mist everywhere. The ribbons spun around Mint and Ichigo, getting faster and faster and faster…

Until they disappeared into the heavens.

And slowly Mint and Ichigo descended back to the mountaintop.

While Shinji grabbed hold of Mint tightly, making her giggle as he kissed her, and the rest of their teammates followed suit with various hugs, Topaz, Bell, Pepper, Zen and Chile all glanced warily at Mylo who just floated in the air with a frown on his face. Jalapeno stared at the Tokyo Defenders, but his eyes were not on Mint and the Mew Whirlwind Rod. Cayenne stood deadpan, staring directly at Mylo and with fists gripped tightly around his sword handles as if he was waiting for something.

However, the only comment Mylo had about the turn of events was,

"Wonder what that did."

He turned to the small group that was watching him nervously. They had all been wary around Mylo since he yelled at Topaz only two days before and weren't sure how he was going to react, especially to any of them.

"Let's go," He said, looking as if he was bored.

"But, Mylo, the element," Bell squeaked.

"Lost cause," Mylo said with a shrug. He focused in on Ichigo's Mew Element Rod, clutched in the girl's hand as she threw her arm around Mint's neck. His eyes gleamed. Perhaps he could still turn the Tokyo Defender's victories into his own. All he would need is to let them win one more… "There are bigger and better things that are waiting for us."

With that, he teleported away, quickly followed by Topaz and the twins, Chile and Zen. Cayenne and Jalapeno disappeared from the mountainside last, exchanging a glance before they did so.

"We thought you were dead for sure!" Homare said as she got her turn to hug Mint.

"So did I," Mint admitted as she leaned against Shinji awkwardly, her new, larger wings getting in the way. She ran a finger over the gem in her Mew Whirlwind Rod. "Three down."

"One to go," Zakuro said solemnly.

This last element, earth, would be for Zakuro to find and face.

"So what do you think the Mew Air did?" Jade asked as they ate in the mountain hut, all desperately ready for a meal and to go home. "I mean, so far every time the other elements have been used, something happened: people come back to life, stuff gets blown up, tsunamis get stopped, heck even vampires became Cyniclons. It had to do something."

"That would be interesting to find out," Keiichiro said. "Air is mostly invisible. You can't quite see what it's doing."

It didn't take them long to find out, though.

They were well over halfway back to Tokyo when Masaya's cellphone buzzed, announcing a new text message.

"Who's it from?" Kish asked, leaning over the backseat to read over Masaya's shoulder.

"It's a friend of mine from England, Danny," Masaya explained. "We were in the same environmental studies program." His brow furrowed and then his eyes widened. As he quickly typed out a message to those riding in the other car, he said, "And I think we might have the answer to what the Mew Air did. Zakuro, change the radio station to a news one!"

Zakuro did so and everyone got quiet as a female voice came through the speakers.

"—on board the International Space Station have just witnessed something incredible. Using radar equipment, they captured something no one could have ever dreamed possible: the holes in the ozone layer, not growing, but shrinking down to be nothing at all. They have been recording continuously for the past three hours and there is no sign at all that the holes are reopening. Scientists are at this point unaware of what caused this phenomenon but did notice that there seemed to be some sort of increasing but unknown activity over Japan. NASA will be sending up both astronauts and similar equipment to make sure this is not a glitch."

Immediately, Ichigo's phone rang and she put it on speakerphone.

"Ichigo, did we just fix the ozone layer?" Mint demanded.

"I think so, Mint," Ichigo said. She couldn't stop grinning. "I guess for the fate of the world, we really are at your service."

"Hey, wait, shh!" Lettuce said over the line, voice crackling from the distance.

"This isn't the first bizarre phenomenon that scientists have seen over the past few months. Oceanologists have been reporting that the oceans have been cleaner, with less beaching of whales and dolphins as well as healthier underwater populations. Oceans aren't the only cleaner water. Rivers, lakes, even reservoirs that have been tested recently are showing to be vastly cleaner. This isn't just in one or two countries either. Every country has had a similar reporting in the various bodies of water. What has been the most confusing, however, was after a underwater earthquake with a 7.5 on the Richter scale, Hawaii's big island should have been struck with a large tsunami, which was being tracked. And then, suddenly, it disappeared. Scientists have no answers for any of these strange occurrences, but for the future generations of Earth, and the planet itself, I know I hope they keep happening."

"So do we," Zakuro said softly to the reporter on the radio. "So do we."


End file.
